As Lebanese celebrate return to border villages, Hezbollah terrorists rise from the

“What I’m seeing is unbelievable. I’m in shock,” said Khoddo Suleiman, a construction worker who returned Tuesday to the village of Kila. Pointing to his destroyed home on a hill, he added, “There’s no house, no vegetation, nothing. I feel a mix of joy and sadness.” Suleiman had fled Kila about six months ago due to the intensification of battles at that time.

Despite the withdrawal, Israel maintains a presence at five strategic points along the border in the hills, where military outposts were established to ensure better protection for northern Israeli communities. In Lebanon, there have been calls for a complete withdrawal, with criticism of Israel’s continued “occupation,” but there is also hope that the cease-fire will hold. Hezbollah has not issued any significant threats, though tensions remain.

The IDF has already withdrawn from numerous villages where it had been engaged in operations to dismantle Hezbollah’s vast terror infrastructure. The result was widespread destruction in these areas, and in recent weeks, clashes have occurred between Lebanese residents trying to return to these areas and Lebanese forces.

On Tuesday morning, the Lebanese military announced that following the completion of the Israeli withdrawal, its forces had been deployed in 11 additional southern Lebanese villages: Al-Abbasiya, Al-Majidiya, Kila, Al-Adisa, Markaba, Houla, Miss Al-Jabal, Blida, Muhaybib, Maroun al-Ras, and parts of Yaroun.

Israeli drones hovered overhead as destruction remained on the ground. “We’ll rebuild from scratch,” said 36-year-old mechanic Atif Arabi, who returned to Kila with hopes of discovering whether his home had survived the fighting. He added, “I’m very happy to return to finally find out if my house is destroyed. If it is, I will rebuild it.” Hussein Fares, another resident who fled in October 2023, said he had waited a year and a half for this moment. “I counted the seconds until today,” he said, though he acknowledged the rebuilding process would be long and complex.

The mayor of Kila, Hassan Sheit, told The Associated Press that the devastation in the village is enormous, with 90% of homes destroyed and the remainder damaged. “There is no house or structure standing,” he said. He noted that reconstruction would have to start “from zero.” Photos from Kila show the widespread destruction, but reports also emerged Tueday of a surprising discovery in the village: Two young men were found alive under the rubble. Their families had lost contact with them three months ago, and they were presumed dead. They were rushed to the hospital.

Although not explicitly stated in the reports, the two men are believed to be Hezbollah terrorists, and one was filmed being welcomed home with Hezbollah flags in Kila. Ali Murtada, a well-known reporter for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen network, posted a video on X, referring to the two men as “fighters” of Hezbollah.

“Hello, my enemies. I hope you have a very bad day,” he said in English, addressing Israelis. This appears to be part of psychological warfare aimed at deterring residents from returning to villages in northern Israel. Murtada claimed that the discovery of the two men proves that the IDF and the Israeli government “are lying” to the public.

“After bombing Kila for a year with more than 2,000 airstrikes, after fighting inside Kila and occupying it for two months, after staying there and bombing houses and all infrastructure, and searching under every stone to find or kill Hezbollah fighters, now, after your withdrawal, two Hezbollah fighters were found alive in Kila,” Murtada said. “Your army needs an eye exam. It lies to you, saying all of southern Lebanon is now clear of Hezbollah fighters. But when they were in Kila, two Hezbollah fighters were there, and you didn’t know.”

The credibility of these claims is unclear, but the fear remains that Hezbollah could operate in the shadows to rebuild its capabilities, taking advantage of the reconstruction efforts in the destroyed villages. Israel has promised to act decisively against any violation of the ceasefire, and throughout the truce, IDF strikes in deep southern Lebanon have continued, although far less frequently than before and without significant Hezbollah retaliation.

Hezbollah has refrained from issuing any real threats as part of its demand for Israel to withdraw completely from the five strategic points along the border. A prominent Hezbollah member of parliament, Hassan Fadlallah, who returned Tuesday to the village of Yaroun, told Reuters that “the main responsibility” for the “liberation” of these hills rests with the Lebanese government.

The Lebanese government has indicated that only Lebanon should make decisions regarding “war or peace,” a likely signal that Hezbollah, whose internal strength has diminished due to the war and the decimation of its leadership, does not want to drag Lebanon into another destructive conflict as it did on October 8, 2023, when it launched a “support front” for Hamas, just a day after the massacre.

Fadlallah also spoke to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar channel, saying, “Every day of liberation is a day of pride, honor and humanity. The government has a great national responsibility, beyond expelling the enemy from the land it occupies. From these borders, we salute our supreme leader (Nasrallah) and tell him that even if his body is absent, his spirit is present.”

The Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar also published a defiant cartoon Tuesday morning, depicting a blood-stained hand emerging from the rubble, holding a rifle. The caption read, “We will not lay down our weapons.” However, in a parallel report, Al-Akhbar acknowledged that Israel had managed to secure through the cease-fire agreement what it had failed to achieve during the fighting. Cited sources indicated that Israel would continue to “occupy five points, just like the 13 points it occupied since 2006”— referring to 18 points that “may not be part of the land demarcation that the U.S. promised after the war.”

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, according to the sources, requested international support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, the U.S. and France to change the decision allowing Israel to maintain its presence in certain southern villages. He argued that “Israel’s continued presence in the south means the possibility of war again,” and that it cannot be guaranteed that Hezbollah “won’t resume its activities.” He added, “Lebanon has committed to the agreement it signed, but Israel insists on violating it, and the countries that guaranteed the agreement must intervene.”